BOARD & STAFF

BONNIE FOGEL
FOUNDER & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Bonnie Fogel has guided the organization from its creation in 1979 as a PTA project in an elementary school to the acclaimed national institution it has become. Prior to Imagination Stage, she worked as an independent writer and journalist. In the United Kingdom, she worked in the communications department of retail giant, Marks & Spencer. In the United States, she worked for Pittsburgh Public Schools and The National Parks & Recreation Association. In the community, she serves on the Advisory Board of the Siena School and on the Scholarship Committee for Leadership Montgomery. She is a former Board Member of the BCC Chamber of Commerce and a founding member of the BCC’s Cultural Arts Committee and the Committee for a Bethesda Cultural District. In 2004, Bonnie was named a Washingtonian of the Year. Other awards include: Montgomery County ArtStars Award (2005); Maryland’s Top 100 Women (2006), Smart CEO Award, (2007), Theatre Washington Helen’s Star (2012), Montgomery Women Shining Star Award (2014), and recipient of the Gelman, Rosenberg, & Freedman Excel Award for nonprofit management (2015).

JANET STANFORD
FOUNDING ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Janet Stanford has helped transition Imagination Stage from a community-based arts organization to a nationally significant regional Theatre for Young Audiences theatre and arts education program. Janet has established a record for ongoing funding from the NEA, the Theatre Communications Group, and The Shubert Foundation, among others. She has commissioned US and international playwrights including Kevin Kling, Karen Zacarias, Joan Cushing, David S. Craig, and Charles Way, whose plays and musicals have gone on to be produced at other theatres in the US and as far away as China. Janet has traveled widely on grants seeking new and exciting artists to work with Imagination Stage. This past season, she directed JACK and Phil, Slayers of Giants-INC and Looking for Roberto Clemente at Imagination Stage, as well as adapting the world premiere, The Little Mermaid. This season, she directed the Helen Hayes Award nominee for Outstanding Theatre for Young Audiences production, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane.